A group of about 13 people met Thursday to discuss the upcoming third year of the Downtown Business Association's Farmers Market, an annual gathering of merchants and residents that has quietly gained a greater foothold each year since its inception in 2006.

The meeting was designed for organizers and vendors to consider plans for the upcoming market, which is scheduled to begin in mid-June at Alice Pleasant Park in downtown Craig.

The Editorial Board is pleased the Farmer's Market is returning for another year, and is supportive of the effort to buy and sell locally grown, raised and crafted food and products.

Board members wish more people would also support the event.

Carol Jacobson, a local business owner and a Farmers Market organizer, said this week that people involved in the offering are considering expanding hours - from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays - adding new wrinkles like live music, and building a logo for better promotion.

These steps are evidence of a growing operation, and not simply a cutesy gathering.

Still, despite the hoof prints of success, there is room for improvement. There is room for the market to become something much greater, and more meaningful to overall community economic well being, the Editorial Board believes.

With more vendor and consumer participation, the event will generate needed foot traffic in the city's downtown.

More people will stop at booths, or in downtown stores and restaurants, and spend money.

The benefits of communities shopping and spending locally, it has been well established, are many.

Call a local effort to do so Moffat County's own stimulus package.

More support for the Farmers Market also moves Craig closer to something the Editorial Board desires - becoming a self-sustaining community.

Self-sustaining communities can withstand recessions and economic downturns. They can weather troubled times.

But, it has to start somewhere.

The Editorial Board can't think of a better place than Alice Pleasant Park this summer.

Comments

You mean to tell me that the downtown stores are going to stay open clear up til 7PM OMG what a shock that will be to the store owners.

!!!Or maybe they don't know it yet!!!

It still turns my crank when Ride the Rockies came through town; was it two summers ago now; and there wasn't a single store that stayed open downtown that day and there were probably 3000 extra people in the city park and wandering around the downtown area.

I would be ecstatic if Craig became a self-sustaining community, and there are communities out there that are currently operating as such, but in order for it to completely work, I think we might need businesses to be competitive to E-commerce, and other large corporations. Maybe not completely competitive, since that's virtually impossible for smaller businesses, but make an effort. Many Craig stores are just too expensive for me to buy locally/intelligently. Keep in mind, i said "many," not all. Some stores are competing and even matching competitor pricing. For that, I definitely shop locally. I will also shop locally if their prices are not too outrageous, even if it does cost a little more, at least it's a little more for Craig. But as for me, I believe there are still an abundant amount of stores that might need to do a price check.